Jessica Franklin

Jessica specialises in personal injury and employment.

Jessica is ranked in the Legal 500 (2025) as a Rising Star in employment law. She is particularly experienced in discrimination, unfair dismissal and whistleblowing claims. She is routinely instructed as sole counsel in multi-day employment trials, as well as appearing in preliminary hearings covering issues such as worker status, jurisdiction and time limits. She has a particular interest in personal injury claims brought in the Employment Tribunal and she has been instructed in claims involving not only psychiatric injuries but also physical injuries arising out of discrimination. She appeared as junior counsel for the successful claimants in the case of British Airways plc v Rollett & Others [2024] IRLR 891. From September to November, Jessica undertook a full-time secondment in the employment and pensions department of a leading London law firm.

In personal injury, Jessica is experienced in a range of areas including disease, military accidents and stress at work claims. She has advised on several cases involving difficult vicarious liability issues and non-delegable duties of care. She has a particular interest in group litigation and is currently instructed as junior counsel on behalf of multiple South African claimants suffering from asbestos-related diseases as a result of living near an asbestos mine.

Jessica graduated from the University of Cambridge with First Class honours. She achieved a Distinction in the GDL and BVS. She was awarded scholarships by Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, the City Law School and the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.

Expertise

Jessica was junior counsel for the successful claimants in British Airways plc v Rollett & Others [2024] IRLR 891, in which the Employment Appeal Tribunal found that it had jurisdiction to hear claims brought under s19 Equality Act by claimants who do not themselves have protected characteristics. This type of claim is now preserved in s19A Equality Act. Jessica is very happy to advise on S19A claims and this novel area of the law.

Other recent work includes:

The strike out of an entire whistleblowing and discrimination claim on the basis of employment status.
The strike out of an entire discrimination claim on the basis of time limits.
At a PH on jurisdiction, successfully arguing that the Employment Rights Act extended to the claimant’s contract, notwithstanding that he was a Danish national, living and working in Denmark.

Jessica was junior counsel in the Court of Appeal in Cuthbert v Taylor Woodrow [2024] EWCA Civ 244, a case concerning the employer’s duty of care in relation to asbestos exposure pre-1965.

Other recent work includes:

Junior counsel for multiple claimants, suffering from asbestos-related diseases, who bring claims against the owner of an asbestos mine in South Africa.
Junior counsel for the claimant, a civil helicopter pilot, in a high value stress at work claim.
Counsel for the defendant, a bonfire society, in relation to a firework injury sustained by a minor.
Junior counsel for the claimant in relation to a catastrophic military parachuting accident in the Middle East.
Junior counsel for the claimant in relation to a catastrophic assault course accident in the United States.

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